Damien Harris announces his retirement from NFL at the age of 27

FOXBORO -- Former Patriots running back Damien Harris announced his retirement from the NFL on Monday night. Harris is hanging up his cleats at just 27 years old.

Despite retiring at such a young age, Harris had himself quite the career in football. He won a pair of titles in college at Alabama while playing under Nick Saban, and then got to play for Bill Belichick after the Patriots drafted him in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft. And though he wasn't part of any Super Bowl celebrations with the Patriots, he got to share a locker room with Tom Brady during his rookie season.

Harris always had a smile on his face, but the man ran angry whenever he got the ball. His powerful running style was a nice compliment to Rhamondre Stevenson out of the New England backfield, and Harris rushed for 100 yards or more on eight different occasions for the Patriots. He really broke out in 2021 when he ran for a career-high 929 yards and 15 touchdowns, including a 64-yard touchdown run during a Monday Night Football win in a blustery Buffalo where the Patriots threw the ball just three times. 

After four seasons in New England, Harris spent the 2023 season with the Bills. He had 94 yards on 23 carries and a touchdown for Buffalo before a Week 6 neck injury ended his season. It was a pretty scary scene for Harris, who was taken off the field in an ambulance after the injury.

Harris announced his retirement on his Instagram account Monday night, and celebrated the fact that he got to play for both Saban and Belichick during his career.

"For the past 20 years, playing the game of football has been one of the greatest privileges in my life," Harris wrote. "Getting to represent the name on the back of my jersey on and off the field, getting to compete at the highest level with and against the best competitors while winning championships, and being coached by the 2 greatest head coaches of all time in Nick Saban and Bill Belichick are all just a small part of what God has done in my life with the game of football.

"The people I've met, the places I've been and will go on to go, the experiences and memories I've made, the impact I've been able to make to this point, these are the things that mean the most to me," he continued. "Gratitude is defined as 'The quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.' Today I am grateful I have found the strength to walk away from the game I love so much."

For his career, Harris ran for 2,188 yards and 21 touchdowns over 44 games, averaging 4.6 yards per carry.